Until March, Cory Booker owned an abandoned home on Newark’s Court Street. When I visited it last week, there was a “No Loitering” sign above the door and barbed wire looped over the fence. Through a hole, an overgrown backyard littered with glass bottles and other trash was visible from the sidewalk. Advertisements for a restoration and cleaning service were posted in the boarded-up windows.

During his tenure as mayor of Newark, Booker has spoken out against the neglected properties that litter the city, and in August 2011, he signed into law an ordinance requiring landowners to register vacant properties with the city’s Office of Rent Control.